Who doesn’t love a rose? A lot of consumers, who think of them as fussy, says Kent Broome, sales rep for Bailey Nurseries. Broome spoke Tuesday (Feb. 7) at ProGreen Expo, the annual confab for plant and landscaping people at the Colorado Convention Center.

And that means the people who sell plants, and the plant breeders who develop them, have a lot of educating to do.

These days, breeders are creating roses to fill a demand for cold hardy, disease-resistent, repeat or ever-blooming plants. “The new generation in their 30s, they want nothing to do with going out and slaving for hours in the rose garden.”

In fact, they don’t even HAVE rose gardens. And that’s just fine – roses are more beautiful and look more natural among perennials, shrubs, and annuals – in short, in the landscape, he says.